The present invention relates to a selecting apparatus and a selecting method adapted for use with a receiving apparatus capable of receiving content data from a plurality of sources.
A user of a receiving apparatus capable of receiving TV broadcasts may sometimes switch channels randomly in what is known as zapping before deciding on a particular channel that attracts the user's interest. The zapping operation is typically executed by the user manipulating a channel selection key.
If the receiving apparatus is compatible only with a single category of broadcast wave, zapping is performed conventionally by use of a single channel selecting element making up part of the channel selection key.
In recent years, the terrestrial wave analog broadcasts have been supplemented with BS (broadcast satellite) and CS (communication satellite) broadcasts gaining widespread acceptance. The additional categories of broadcast waves are addressed by the increasingly popularized use of receiving apparatuses each having a plurality of tuners for receiving the newly introduced broadcast waves. With these receiving apparatuses, zapping within one category of broadcast wave is done using the same single operating element as before. However, zapping across different categories of broadcast waves requires operating an additional element or elements for the switching.
The additional operation on the elements for changing broadcast wave categories translates into increased burdens on the user. That is, the user cannot perform zapping across different broadcast wave categories as easily as within the same wave category.
A solution to the disadvantage above is proposed by some of the multiple-wave-category receiving apparatuses resorting to the channel selection key alone for zapping. These apparatuses are arranged to switch channels starting from the first or the last channel within the currently selected wave category before moving on to channels of another broadcast wave category. In other words, the channels across different categories of broadcast waves are chained sequentially so that the channel selection key alone may be operated to zap channels across different wave categories. Some relevant aspects of the related art are discussed illustratively in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2000-324412.
However, the proposed solution above requires zapping through all channels within the currently selected broadcast wave category before reaching any one channel of another broadcast wave category. As the number of receivable channels is increasing today along with the number of broadcast wave categories, the number of times the channel selection key needs to be operated conventionally for zapping can become inordinately large.